Best News Pictures of 2009: World Press Winners

First Prize, Spot News

Photograph courtesy Adam Ferguson, VII Mentor Program for The New York Times

Soldiers pull a woman from the scene of a suicide car bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a December 15 picture by Australian photographer Adam Ferguson.

The bomb exploded near a hotel in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, which houses a number of embassies. At the time, the attack was the deadliest in the Afghan capital in six weeks, killing 8 people and wounding 40 others.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Spot News (Series)

Photograph courtesy Walter Astrada, Agence France-Presse

Two men hide behind a barrier as police fire tear gas at rioters in Antananarivo, the capital of the African island country of Madagascar. The February picture was part of a photo story by Argentine photographer Walter Astrada.

Violence erupted on Madagascar in January 2009, after supporters of opposition leader Andry Rajoelina set fire to a state-run media complex. Nearly two months of riots ensued, resulting in more than 170 deaths. (See "Lemur Forests Pillaged by 'Gangs' as Madagascar Reels.")

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, General News

Photograph courtesy Kent Klich

A March picture by Swedish photographer Kent Klich shows light streaming through a hole in the roof of an abandoned home hit by a tank shell in northern Gaza.

The family that once lived in the house evacuated during an Israeli attack on Gaza that began in December 2008.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, General News (Series)

Photograph courtesy Marco Vernaschi for Pulitzer Center

A young man takes a drag from a crack pipe in Reno, the poorest neighborhood in Guinea-Bissau's capital city of Bissau. The scene is part of a winning photo story by Italian photographer Marco Vernaschi.

The tiny West African country includes several islands off its coast, yet it has no working boats in its navy. In recent years Guinea-Bissau has become a haven for South American drug traffickers smuggling cocaine into Europe.

Published April 6, 2010

Second Prize, People in the News

Photograph courtesy David Guttenfelder, The Associated Press

A picture by Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder captures three U.S. soldiers responding to Taliban fire outside a bunker in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan in May.

Specialist Zachery Boyd (left), who had been sleeping in his bunk when the attack began, rushed to support fellow platoon members, arriving in a T-shirt and pink "I Love NY" boxer shorts.

Published April 6, 2010

Second Prize, People in the News (Series)

Photograph courtesy Charles Ommanney, Getty Images for Newsweek

British photographer Charles Ommanney snapped a picture of U.S. President Barack Obama in a seemingly quiet moment, immediately before his swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., on January 20.

Ommanney told the White House Correspondents Insider, a news blog dedicated to covering the White House press corps, that this photograph "sums up everything to me" about the president.

"There were millions of people watching around the world, and there was a single figure who was very much in the moment. He wasn't freaking out; he was kind of just on an incredible ride."

Published April 6, 2010

Second Prize, Contemporary Issues

Photograph courtesy Stefano De Luigi, VII Network for Le Monde Magazine

A dead giraffe lies in a dry riverbed in northeastern Kenya in September. Hundreds of thousands of animals–from wildlife to pastoral nomads' herds–died in 2009 during Kenya's worst drought in more than a decade.

Kenya depends on seasonal rains for most of its water, but in 2009 the rains failed to appear for the third year running. (See more pictures of devastation wrought by the record drought.)

In early March 2010 rain returned to Kenya, bringing flooding that forced 50,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Contemporary Issues (Series)

Photograph by Eugene Richards, Getty Images Reportage for The Sunday Times Magazine/Paris Match

Iraq war veteran Jose Pequeño is helped out of his hospital bed by his mother in a picture by U.S. photographer Eugene Richards. Pequeño lost 40 percent of his brain when a grenade exploded in his patrol vehicle in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

From the start of the conflict to the end of 2009, more than 4,300 U.S. military personnel were killed and about 30,000 wounded.

Published April 6, 2010

Second Prize, Daily Life

Photograph courtesy Joan Bardeletti

A family's Sunday picnic on a beach in Mozambique, snapped by Joan Bardeletti of France, exemplifies the rise of the middle class in this southeastern African country, still one of the poorest in the world.

Mozambique has enjoyed "blistering economic growth" over the past decade, according to the World Bank. The international financial institution projects that the number of people worldwide classified as middle class in developing countries will reach one billion by 2030.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Daily Life (Series)

Photograph courtesy Gihan Tubbeh

Adrian, 13, has autism. He loves watching, listening to, and touching the static on television, according to Peruvian photographer Gihan Tubbeh.

Tubbeh documented Adrian's life with autism, a complex developmental disability estimated to affect 1.5 million people in the United States alone.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Portraits

Photograph courtesy Laura Pannack, Lisa Pritchard Agency for The Guardian Weekend

Graham has struggled with anorexia since he was 14, when he tried to lose weight to attract a girl, according to a report in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper. By the time he was 15, Graham weighed just over 66 pounds (30 kilograms).

Captured by U.K. photographer Lisa Pritchard, Graham is now 24 and double that weight, but he still sees himself as recovering from anorexia.

Published April 6, 2010

Second Prize, Portrait (Series)

Photograph courtesy Annie van Gemert

Boy or girl? Before puberty, some children appear androgynous.

Photographer Annie van Gemert of the Netherlands took a series of photographs aimed at challenging viewers' perceptions of gender, according to World Press Photo.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Arts and Entertainment

Photograph courtesy Malick Sidibé

Malick Sidibé of Mali shot a photograph of djembe drummers Abdoulaye Diakite (left) and Mamoutou Kone for a New York Times Magazine story about wild prints making a fashion comeback.

The djembe is a goblet-shaped wooden hand drum that originated in Africa.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Arts and Entertainment (Series)

Photograph courtesy Kitra Cahana, Fabrica for Colors

A person holds up a white rat in the "dirty kids" lounge at Rainbow Camp, a yearly event that celebrates inclusiveness and encourages attendees to pray for world peace.

The festival attracts hundreds of teenage runaways, including this group captured by Canadian photographer Kitra Cahana. The 2009 Rainbow Camp was held in the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Nature

Photograph courtesy Joe Petersburger, National Geographic Image Collection

Seen from underwater, a kingfisher's milky eye gleams as the bird catches a fish that strayed too near the water's surface. (See more pictures of kingfishers in action.)

Kingfishers, like many aquatic birds, have third eyelids called nictitating membranes, which protect the eyes from damage while allowing the birds to see prey underwater.

Hungarian photographer Joe Petersburger captured this picture for the National Geographic Image Collection.

Published April 6, 2010

First Prize, Nature (Series)

Photograph courtesy Paul Nicklen, National Geographic

A light-mantled sooty albatross guards its nest in this picture taken for the December 2009 National Geographic magazine by Canadian photographer Paul Nicklen on South Georgia. The U.K.-administered island lies roughly between South America and Antarctica (South Georgia map).

(See more pictures from Nicklen's South Georgia assignment.)

In 1985 the shores of Gold Harbour on South Georgia were covered by a glacier that has since retreated inland.

Published April 6, 2010